The change of gear from high Gothic art through Bosch, Bruegel, and beyond, is often seen as an indication of developing humanist tendencies in Western art and theology, and the abandonment of the central motifs of Christian imagery. We will explore this with examples of subjects across artists (for example the Temptation of St Anthony), with a view to assessing this assumption. Rather than seeing Bruegel as a humanistic step in the West, we will test whether, rather, it may be indicative of embeddedness of God in obscurity, and a quest to discern the incarnation’s deepest significance.

Tea and coffee available in the Hood Room from 3.30pm